Your Right to Know

Could Ohio Democrats be quietly putting together an issue designed to boost turnout of the party
faithful in this fall’s election?

Longtime Cincinnati businessman Steve Reece says his daughter, state Rep. Alicia Reece, head of
the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus, is helping prepare a Voters Bill of Rights to enshrine
African-Americans’ right to vote in the state constitution.

“I think there would be some excitement about that,” said the elder Reece. He noted that one of
the Democrats’ major challenges in this gubernatorial election year is to bring turnout, especially
among minority voters, closer to the level of a presidential election year.

Abortion-rights advocates have criticized state Health Director Ted Wymslo for his role in
shutting down abortion clinics that don’t meet state requirements.

But the doctor is not exactly racing to shutter the Lebanon Road Surgery Center, an abortion
clinic in Sharonville near Cincinnati that he ordered closed, a move upheld by a hearing officer
three months ago. A lawyer for the facility filed written objections on Oct. 21, but Wymslo has not
yet made a ruling on them.

The abortion clinic was ordered closed by the state because it did not have a valid transfer
agreement — a pact with an area hospital to accept abortion patients if help is needed.

Sen. Dave Burke, R-Marysville, tweeted from his account, @BurkeforOhio, early last week a story
about people using food stamps to get food laced with marijuana in Colorado, where the drug is now
legal for recreational purposes.

Dispatch Assistant Public Affairs Editor Michelle Everhart saw the tweet: “In Denver Paul
Horner: ‘Where will this all end? First it was Obamaphones, then Obamacare, now Obamaweed?’
http://nationalreport.net/colorado-pot-shop-accept-food-stamps-taxpayer-funded-marijuana/.”

It’s not clear whether Burke realized that the article is actually a satirical news story. After
someone tweeted that the story is fake, it appears the pharmacist deleted his original tweet.

Burke is a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 182, which would require drug testing for welfare
recipients.

You might have heard about a study last week showing that, for the first time, most members of
Congress — 268 out of 535 — are millionaires, judging by their financial-disclosure statements.

Ohio is well-represented near the top of the list compiled by the nonprofit Center for
Responsive Politics: Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Wadsworth, with a net worth between $31,338,760 and
$41,930,701 (18th in the House); Sen. Rob Portman, $7,365,124 to $20,483,999 (15th in the Senate);
Rep. David Joyce, R-Geauga County, $2,305,115 to $6,225,000 (85th in the House); Rep. Joyce Beatty,
D-Columbus, $1,605,033 to $3,678,000 (122nd in the House); and Brad Wenstrup, R-Cincinnati,
$1,411,042 to $3,416,000 (131st in the House).